This exhibition features some 66 paintings by the Basque artist, several of which are displayed in public for the first time. Ranging in date from 1888, when Zuloaga was 18, to 1945, the works trace the artist’s development from his training in Paris to the mature work inspired by Spanish artists such as Velázquez, Ribera, Zurbarán, Goya and El Greco. The curators, Sofía Barrón y Carlos Alonso, focus on Zuloaga as both a landscapist and a portraitist. They showcase his representations of turn-of-the-century aristocracy, bourgeoisie and intellectuals, as well as his intimate portraits of family members. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue and is organised in collaboration with the Museo Zuloaga in Pedraza (Segovia) and its president, the artist’s granddaughter, María Rosa Suárez Zuloaga.

Sorolla and Spirituality (until 2 September 2018)

This exhibition features the work Yo soy el pan de la vida, exhibited to the public for the first time since its recent restoration, the result of a collaboration with the owners of the work, the Lladró family. Curated by Felipe Garín, the exhibition explores the religious themes which the Valencian artist explored briefly in the earlier part of his career. It comprises six works produced between 1883 y 1899, including ¡Triste herencia!,Monja en oración,Santa Clotilde, Mesa petitoria, and La Virgen María, all on loan from major public collections.

The exhibition Intacta María. Política y religiosidad en la España barroca, opening on 30 November 2017, analyses the process through which devotion to the Immaculate conception was created and popularised in early modern Spain. While the Immaculate Conception only became dogma in 1854, as early as 1616 the Spanish Monarchy became a staunch supporter of the theory, turning its defence into a national priority. In the following years, the Immaculate Conception became Spain’s most heartfelt devotion and a sign of national identity. Art played an important role in this process, amounting to what we may describe as a marketing campaign. This will be the focus of the Museo de Bellas Artes’ forthcoming exhibition, featuring more than 50 paintings, sculptures, prints and books borrowed from notable Spanish museums and churches such as the Museo Nacional de Escultura de Valladolid, the Cathedral of Seville, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, and many others.

From the 7th of January 2016, I spent forty days in London conducting research on Spanish art in the United Kingdom, thanks to an ARTES scholarship granted last year. The first week was almost entirely consecrated to preparing the talk “Architectural Practice in Spain, 1370-1450: Documents, Drawings and Historiography”, delivered on the 18th of January at the Courtauld Institute. After that, I conducted my research in the Warburg Library and in the Courtauld Library, where I found new and very useful papers about several historiographical problems within my field of academic interests. Moreover, the stay was a superb opportunity to attend lectures and seminars related to medieval art, for example Mary Carruthers’ seminar on the Art of Invention in Cambridge (“Vividness, Evidence, Proof: the Role of Visions”), and Lina Bolzoni’s talk about Memory Palaces in the Renaissance at the Courtauld Institute. Besides, I was kindly invited by Nicola Jennings and Tom Nickson to join their lessons in the V&A about Spanish Medieval Art and Gothic architectural drawings, respectively. I could visit, too, the medieval collections of the British Museum and the National Gallery, and prominent architectural monuments such as Ely Cathedral and Saint Alban’s Abbey. Furthermore, in addition to the aforementioned scholars, I met researchers as Susie Nash, Barry Taylor, Rose Walker and Kirstin Kennedy, who all gave me sound advice about my work.

Sir John Charles Robinson, by John James Napier, National Portrait Gallery

The main focus of my research in London was the altarpiece of Saint George (Victoria and Albert Museum, 1217-1864), an exceptional work of art and very well preserved. The piece was bought in Paris art market in 1864, and was said to have been removed from a church of Valencia. Little more is known about its original context. In order to discover more about the circumstances of its purchase, I reviewed the files referring to Saint George’s Altarpiece in the Prints and Drawings Study Room of the V&A, as well as other documents lent by the Conservation Department of the Museum. Key information was provided by Blythe House Archives, particularly the files of Sir John Charles Robinson, John Webb and Juan Facundo Riaño. Robinson’s words on the altarpiece put its acquisition into context: Spanish medieval art had begun to be greatly appreciated in France and Britain ca. 1864, partly because of the influence of the French Empress, and partly because of the 19th century’s love affair with the exoticism of Southern Europe. Robinson’s voyages to Spain testify to this allure (exemplified by the V&A’s cast of El Pórtico de la Gloria ). Webb was summoned

Robinson files, Blythe House, V&A

by Robinson to examine the Altarpiece of Saint George, and his diagnosis was key: the piece was deemed worthy of its asking price. The reports of Juan Facundo Riaño, who wasn’t directly involved in the issue, reveal also a whole world of antique dealers, painters, diplomats and connoisseurs operating in Spain. The reading of bibliography related to the art market in mid 19th-century Europe completed this survey of the vicissitudes of the Saint George Altarpiece. I hope that the outcome of this research will be published soon in a forthcoming paper.

In 1978 Miró collaborated with the theatre company Teatre de la Claca to design, decorate and produce the masks and giant puppet figures for their production of Mori el Merma a play based on Alfred Jarry’s tyrannical Ubu figure, whom the artist associated with Franco’s reign. The production opened in Mallorca and Barcelona and subsequently toured Europe including a showing at the Riverside Studios in London. The exhibition displays for the first time since 1980 the masks and puppets, recently restored by the Instituto Valenciano de Conservación y Restauración, alongside a series of drawings and three portfolios of lithographs that Miró produced during the design process.